Improved railway-switch



W. J. STOWELL.

RAILWAY SWITCH;

Patented Aug. 11, 1868.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM J. STOWELL, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

IMPROVED RAlLWAY SWlTCH.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 8 L029, dated August 11, 1868.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. SToWELL, of Baltimoreeity, in the county of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented a new and Improved Railway-Switch; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of the improved switch applied to the main track-rails at a turn-out or siding. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures.

This invention relates to railroadswitches which are applied at the junctions of turn-outs with main tracks, for the purpose of allowing trains to leave a main track and pass off upon a siding, and also to pass from a siding upon a main track.

The nature of my invention and improvement in switches consists in connecting a laterally-movable rail-section of one side of the turn-out with a laterally-movable rail-section of one side of the main track, and in connecting the laterally-movable inside railsection of the opposite side of the turn-out with said movable main track and turn-out rail-sections, by means of levers and rods, in such manner that the three sections will all move together,

and may be adjusted and set for the main track or turn-out at pleasure, said parts being so constructed and connected together that, should theswitch be improperly adjusted for a train running upon the main track, no accident is liable to occur, all as will be hereinafter explained.

The invention further consists in providing the switch-lever by which the switch-rails are adjusted with an auxiliary lever, which will assist in moving the switch, and employing a hook-fastening in conjunction therewith for retaining the switch-rails in position when they are set for the siding, as will be hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand my invention, I will describe its construction and operation. In the accompanying drawings, A A represent the main-track rails, which are spiked down upon their cross-ties G G G G G in the usual well-known manner.

B B represent the fixed rail-sections of the siding or turn-out, which it is desired to con nect with the main track at certain times by means of my improved switch.

Between the main track rails A A, and jointed to the inside rail-section, B, by a shoe, a, or in any suitable manner, is a rail-section, B, which is held in a plane parallel, or nearly so, to the movable turn-out section B as will be hereinafter described. This horizontallyvibrating section B is tapered, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, so that its sharp end shall not offer an obstruction to car-wheels passing from the main track upon it when it is adjusted, as shown in red lines, Fig. 1. In order to allow this tapering section B, to fit snugly against the lip of the main rail-section A when adjusted against it, as indicated in red, a portion of the rail-bases of the rails are cut away, as shown.

An offset, 9, is secured in a suitable manner to the rail-section B, to which is pivoted a connecting-rod, g, which rod extends transversely across the main track, and is jointed to the short arm of a lever, f. This lever f is pivoted to an offset, e, projecting from the inside of a main-track-rail section, A, and also to the cross-tie Gr at the point d. The railsection A -is' confined to a cross-tie, Gflby means of a saddle or lipped chair, 0, and all that portion of this section A which extends to the lipped chair I) is allowed to spring lat erally, so that the end which rests upon said chair b may be moved in a lateral direction a few inches by the natural spring of the metal of this rail-section.

Outside of the main-track rail A and secured thereto or formed thereon, is a slightlycurved rail-section, 13 which belongs to the siding, and which rests at one end upon the chair b, and at the otherend upon the chair 0, to which latter the end of this rail-section is secured firmly, as shown in Fig. l.

The plates d d, which are secured upon the cross-ties beneath the two laterally-movable rail-sections A B are merely face-plates, to serve as bearin gs uponwhich said sections may be vibrated.

It will be seen from the above description that the rails 13, A and B are connected together in such manner that they will vibrate together.

When the rail-section A is in line with the main-track rails A, as shown in black lines, Figs. 1 and 2, the two turn-ont-switch sections B B will be located to one side of their respective main-track rails, and when the free end of rail-section B is moved in line with its main-track rail A the free end of section'B will be brought up closely against the inner side of its main-track rail by the operation of the 1everf and connecting-rod g, as shown in red lines, Fig. 1.

An ofi'set, h, is secured to the free end of the switch-section B and projects laterally from the outer side thereof, and to this ofl'set a rod, 1', is pivoted, which is pivoted again to the short arm of a switch lever, D. This switch-lever D is pivoted to a standard, 0, and passes'up through an oblong'slot made through the upper overhanging end of this standard, as clearly shown in Fig. 2.- A lever, E, is pivoted to the overhanging portion of said standard, so as to vibrate in a horizontal plane and serve as a means for facilitating the drawing back and holding of the lever D in the act ot adjusting the switch for the turn out. The hook j, on one side of standard 0, will serve to retain lever E in place while holding back the lever D, as indicated in red lines, Fig. 1.

Having described my invention, what I clairn as new, and desire to sccureby Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of vibrating switch-rails B B of the siding with the vibratingswitchrail A, forming part of the main track, said rail-sections being arranged and connected to gether substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. The auxiliary lever E, with its fastening j applied to the standard 0 of the switch-lever D, substantially as and for the purposes described.

W. J. STOWELL.

Witnesses: Y

Jos. LINDAU, W. LAUBHEIMER. 

